Srimad Bhagavatam – day 298
In the land known as Uttara-kuru province, the Lord manifests as Varāha (boar) incarnation. Here, Mother Earth (Bhu-devi) together with inhabitants of this land worships Him with unflinching faith. She chants the following mantra:
“Oṃ namo bhagavate mantra-tattva-liṇgāya yajna-kratave mahā-dhvara avayavāya mahā-puruṣāya namaḥ karma-śuklāya tri-yugāya namaste.
O Supreme Lord! Your form can be understood purely through Vedic mantras. Yagnas with limbs and Yagnas without limbs both are Your manifestations. Your limbs themselves are Yagnas. In all Yugas barring Kali-yuga You physically manifest. You shower perfect pure results for actions. Pure, good actions (sattva guna) are Your forms. Again and again I bow before You.
Just as fire hidden within wood, Srihari exists as the energy of action (Kriya-shakti) and discriminative intelligence (vignāna-shakti) within gross bodies that are outcomes of illusion (māya).
Frutitive actions are hidden with the results (of those actions). With intent of having the darshan of Lord Srihari, Maharishis who are filled with wisdom use their mind as a churning rod to churn their heart. As a result of their efforts Srihari manifests within them as their Self.
Due to Self-analysis, practice of Yama, Niyama and other Yogic disciplines the mind of the aspirant transforms and becomes sharp. Mahatmas possess sharp discriminatory intelligence using which they critically analyze the illusory worldly comforts, the senses along with their presiding deities, gross body, time and egoism. They try to decisively figure out the Lord’s real existence. They realize that all these forms are the Lord’s illusory creations and have no real existence. To such Lord I offer my obeisance.
O Iśwara! Just as a magnet moves on account of an iron piece kept in its vicinity, based on Your resolve this illusionary energy moves and through its attributes (gunas) creates, sustains and dissolves this creation. There is absolutely no selfishness in You, the eternal witness. I offer obeisance to You, who remain the eternal witness for the attributes of Nature and for the individual’s destiny.
Just as a huge elephant which is sporting in the oceans attacks the smaller elephant that obstructs its path, the primordial Lord Varāha (boar incarnation), who is the cause for this creation, defeated the mighty demon Hiranyāksha who, like a wild elephant, attacked him when He was safely bringing me up from Patala. This Lord sportily lifted me up when I had sunk into the lower planetary system called Pātāla, retained me at the end of His tusks and safely restored me to my original place. I offer obeisance to the ever-efficient Lord Srihari”. In this way Mother Earth (Bhu-devi) prays.
With this the eighteenth chapter of the fifth canto comes to an end.
Fifth Canto Nineteenth Chapter
In this chapter hymns upon Srirāma and the greatness of Bharata-varṣa are explained.
Maharishi Śuka said to Parikshit, “Hanuman, the most supreme devotee of the Lord resides in the land known as Kimpuruṣa varṣa. Together with the Kimpuruṣās He worships Srirāma with unflinching devotion.
The lotus feet of Lord Srirāma, the primordial cause for this creation, who is complete in every respect, who is the elder brother of Lakshmana and who is extremely dear to Mother Sita, are very special to Hanuman. In this place heavenly beings known as Gandharvas eternally sing the glories of Lord Srirāma. Together with Aṛṣṭisena, the chief of the Kimpuruṣās, Hanuman is eternally engrossed in listening to the glories of His dearest Lord. In addition he eternally chants the below mantra and the hymn.
oṁ namo bhagavate uttama-ślokāya nama ārya-lakṣaṇa-śīla-vratāya nama upaśikṣitātmana upāsita-lokāya namaḥ sādhu-vāda-nikaṣaṇāya namo brahmaṇya-devāya mahā-puruṣāya mahā-rājāya namah.
The glory of Srirāma, the incarnation of the Supreme Lord, is unsurpassed. Srirāma possesses absolute mind control. The qualities, character and disciplines of supremely noble souls are clearly visible in Him. He treated his citizens as God. This emperor was totally devoted towards Vedic scholars. He is the touchstone for pure, sweet speech. Again and again I bow before this Supreme Lord.
He resides as the Self within the mind of the Self-realized saint who has reached the non-dual state. Only through personal experience the aspirant can realize this Lord as the Self within his pure mind. When feelings of doership and enjoyer-ship (feelings of ‘I am the doer/ enjoyer of the action) or feelings of egoism exist, the inner Lord cannot be experienced.
Self-knowledge that is beyond the limitation of name and form can gradually be understood only through its inherent pure illumination. It is untouched by the waking, dream and deep sleep states that are creations of illusionary energy (māya). I offer obeisance to such Self-knowledge.
The Supreme Lord wanted to destroy the demons. Equally importantly through His exemplary behavior He wanted to show to human beings, the right way to lead life. Hence He incarnated as Rama and enacted the role of an ordinary human being. If not how can the all-pervading Self grieve that Sita was kidnapped? How could grief touch it?
Rama is none other than the Supreme Lord. He is beyond grief. By enacting as if he was grief-stricken, He taught human beings how to behave during times of intense sorrows. The all-pervading Lord who is Self-effulgent exists as the Self (ātma) within every living entity. Residing within them he causes the well-being of those who have conquered their senses. Such Lord is absolutely free from any form of attachment in the three worlds. Hence it is improper to declare that He grieved due to separation from his wife; that he sent away Lakshmana his younger brother.
Physical beauty, birth in aristocratic society, eloquence in speech, caste and knowledge do not bring joy to Mahatmas. This is undoubtedly true, because we Vanaras who live amidst deep forests do not have any of these attributes. Even then, Rama, the elder brother of Lakshmana, accepted our friendship. Isn’t it astonishing?
Trivikramāya namah